a single aircraft carrier, the elderly , which was unavailable for operations at the time as she was undergoing a refit. Ranger had last seen combat against Vichy French forces while supporting the Operation Torch landings in Morocco during November 1942, and had later been used to ferry aircraft to North Africa and train aircrews off the United States east coast. On 8 September 1943 the main body of the Home Fleet, including the American task force, sortied in response to reports that Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and nine destroyers had put to sea. The Allied force returned to the Home Fleet's main base at Scapa Flow the next day after it was learned that the German ships had returned to port after briefly attacking Allied positions on Spitsbergen. On 22 September the German battle group in Norway was attacked by several British midget submarines. This raid inflicted significant damage on Tirpitz, leaving the battleship unable to proceed to sea until repairs were complete. Once this was known to the Allies, the commander of the Home Fleet, Admiral Bruce Fraser, judged that the changed balance of forces would allow his force to assume a more offensive role by attacking German shipping off Norway and restarting the Arctic Convoys to the Soviet Union. Preparations Following the midget submarine operation Fraser decided to dispatch the main body of the Home Fleet to conduct an air attack against ports and German shipping in northern Norway. Ranger was assigned responsibility for attacking the port of Bodø, which was an important rendezvous point for German and German-controlled Norwegian shipping. Fraser also initially planned to use the aircraft carrier to attack shipping in the port of Brønnøysund, to the south of Bodø, but this element of the operation was cancelled due to unfavourable weather. The slow-moving Fairey Albacores on Formidable required cloud cover to operate over hostile territory. While several Luftwaffe (German Air Force) bases were located near Bodø, most of the aircraft previously stationed in northern Norway had been transferred elsewhere and those that remained posed little threat to the Allied fleet. In the case no shipping could be found, the American pilots were given as alternative targets Bodø Air Station, the oil depot in Bodø, and radar installations at Røst. The Home Fleet's plans were informed by considerable intelligence on German shipping movements and forces in northern Norway. The Royal Navy's Operational Intelligence Centre collated information